Space Seed - Alternate Ending
by Miss-Inquisitive-Sci-fi
Summary: Picks up towards the end of the famous episode 'Space Seed' and is completely off canon from there. Shameless Hurt/Comfort piece showing the great friendship between Jim, Spock and McCoy. Prior viewing of the episode is recommended. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - This is my first venture back into writing after a heavy period of writer's block. Hopefully this will be the start of lots more stories not to mention the continuation of a few!**

 **As the description suggests this takes place during the tv series episode 'Space Seed'; prior knowledge of that episode would help as this story assumes you know the backstory and just jumps straight in.**

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James T. Kirk hurtled along the length of the USS Enterprise at breakneck speed; almost tripping himself up numerous times whilst he traversed the maze of corridors. His destination was the main conference area on level 5: the location of the entire bridge crew and hopefully an unconscious Khan Noonien Singh.

As he neared ever closer to the last known location of the megalomaniac Jim's anxiety grew exponentially, for he highly doubted that the augmented human would have been caught out so easily by knockout gas. Spock had flooded all areas of the ship to finally take the Enterprise back from the crazed hijackers, whilst Jim had raced away to ensure the capture of the madman.

Jim's heart hammered painfully against his ribcage as his body struggled to provide enough oxygen for the maddening sprint. He knew that being stuck in McCoy's depressurising tank and almost being damn near suffocated had taken a toll on his body, but now was not the time to recharge; not with _his_ ship and crew still in danger from the enemy.

As Jim turned the last corridor he spotted a figure in red stumble out of the conference room coughing and spluttering from the effects of the gas. When Jim neared he recognised the figure to be that of Montgomery Scott. The Captain swept trained eyes around the corridor as he neared the felled engineer with hands clenched tightly around his phaser; keen gaze on the lookout for any augmented humans.

"Scotty!" Jim exclaimed as he reached out an arm to steady his Chief Engineer.

"Captain…" The Scotsman started to speak before spluttering into another coughing fit.

"Where's Khan?" Jim asked earnestly, anxious gaze still sweeping the surrounding area for any signs of trouble; the trepidation in his body language was clear for all to see.

"I don't know… he got out just as the gas…" Scotty was continually interrupted by the effects of the gas and suddenly his legs would no longer hold him against the wall; Jim quickly stepped forward to support the elder man's trembling frame.

A whistle interrupted any further question Jim was about to ask. He darted over to the communication panel and slammed the receiver rather forcefully; hands still shaking from the impromptu workout with his already oxygen strained system.

"Kirk here."

"Anaesthesia gas in all sections except engineering. Someone just closed that line." Spock's calm and controlled voice filled the corridor revealing the information Jim so desperately needed: Khan's location.

Jim turned to run but as if Spock knew what he was about to, which in hindsight he probably did this was Spock after all, the Vulcan's urgent voice filled the corridor again.

"Captain wait."

Jim almost ignored his first's command but something in the Commander's voice made him turn back; he could have sworn he had just detected _worry_.

"Spock I have to get to engineering and stop Khan." Jim was quite breathless as he allowed his annoyance at being held up leak into his tone.

"I agree with the course of action Captain but I would suggest you allow me to accompany you in confronting Khan."

There it was again; Jim was used to this kind of mothering from bones but not from Spock and not as openly as this.

"Spock I can handle Khan, somebody needs to gather the senior crew members and secure this ship!"

The Captain's hands were growing more clammy and sweaty as the precious seconds ticked away; Khan could be doing anything at this moment. He _needed_ to get to engineering.

"Respectfully Captain you cannot defeat Khan; these augmented humans are incredibly strong and I believe Khan is the greatest threat to this ship presently. He could control anything he desired from his current location."

As Spock's logic filtered through the grating Jim found himself sighing; the Vulcan was correct as usual. As well as Jim could fight there really was only so much he could do against brute strength. Khan _was_ the greatest threat on this ship, and in truth Scotty could handle securing the remaining sections.

He leaned his head against the cool metal wall for a beat before replying. "Meet me at engineering, and Spock?"

"Yes Jim." Was the instant reply.

"Why do you always have to be right?"

Jim gave Scotty his orders and dashed away knowing that his XO wouldn't respond to the rhetorical question; he could imagine the Vulcan's face in his mind anyway. He could almost see Spock's eyebrow slant upwards and a slight smile tug at the man's lips; for someone so determined to hide his emotions Spock hardly realised how expressive he could really be.

Just before he reached the engineering deck Jim spotted Spock sprinting towards him; phaser in hand and a grim determination etched across his features.

' _Into battle'_ Kirk mused.

Jim reached the final turning first and swiftly spun to face the entrance to engineering. He could hear Spock's footfalls only seconds behind him, so the Captain bounded into the room without a second thought; an action that would prove to be his downfall.

He heard the doors slam shut behind him but the Captain's thoughts were drawn to another more immediate problem as an arm shot out of know-where, and grasped an iron-tight grip on the arm which held his phaser. Jim looked left to stare into the eyes of his attacker urging his mind not to panic as the strong grip started to crush his arm.

Khan didn't waste any time and grabbed Kirk's phaser with his free arm followed by roughly shoving the Captain against the wall. Jim's brain finally caught up to what had just happened: he had been disarmed by a super human psychopath, and Spock hadn't been as close behind him as he had imagined. Jim risked a glance towards the tightly shut doors and felt his stomach drop as he spotted the control panel had been taken apart. The doors were sealed and they would stay that way until Spock found a way to cut through. Jim wasn't confident in the slightest that he had the time to wait.

Khan's gaze also fell upon the door and he smiled as Spock's muffled banging could be heard; both men could hear the Vulcan shouting his Captain's name. Jim figured Spock knew just as badly as he did the severity of the situation he had unceremoniously landed himself in; the first officer did not raise his voice lightly.

" _You cannot defeat Khan…"_ Spock's previous words echoed in his mind as Khan's predatory smile fell back upon his intended victim.

"It's just you and me _Captain._ "

Jim gulped as he stared into Khan's gaze; eyes ablaze with fury and hatred. The Captain had ruined the madman's plan, and now here he was defenceless as the augmented human held his _own_ phaser tightly; pointing it squarely at his prey's chest. Khan could kill him right here and now with one twitch of a finger.

Khan smirked whilst moving the phaser up before Jim's face gripping it with two hands. Jim was confused for a moment before realising Khan had no intention of using a weapon to make his death swift.

The augmented human gripped both ends of Kirk's weapon before twisting and bending the tool to his wishes; tearing and moulding the phaser until it was rendered entirely useless. Try as he might Kirk could not tear his eyes away from the spectacle; his bad feeling was growing exponentially by the second. The Captain was not stupid this was a show of strength and a bloody strong one at that. Khan had ripped that phaser apart without breaking a sweat; Jim couldn't help but let his thoughts wander to what this animal could do with _his_ body.

Spock's banging had long since ceased and Jim could distinctly smell burning which meant only one thing; his first officer was attempting to breach the sealed doors by burning his way through.

The Captain thought back to all of his sparring sessions with Spock desperately trying to formulate a plan to use against such strength; his first officer was mighty strong himself with that Vulcan physiology. However Jim had never seen Spock display such brute force as Khan just had and his XO always came out on top in their sessions; Jim was lucky to sometimes surprise Spock's logical mind but in the end the superior strength and skill was too much to overcome.

 _"I just have to delay him until Spock can get in."_ Jim thought to himself. He would fight for his life and his crew until his last breath. Never had the promise been more literal than this.

Kirk was brought out of his reverie as a clang echoed around the sparse room; the ruined phaser now lay in a crumpled mess at their feet. Jim stared into Khan's eyes as he witnessed the madness magnify and he twitched in anger, but Kirk refused to look away from the danger.

The spell was broken as an insistent beeping emanated from the engineering console around the corner, Kirk recognised the sound and understood it's meaning instantly. It was a warning. What had Khan done?

Khan moved first, promptly calculating the Captain's next move and plotting a course to intercept. Jim moved just a moment too late and inwardly cursed again at the speed at which his opponent could think. Jim stopped short of the console as Khan stood his ground effectively covering the majority of the controls, and keeping himself between Kirk and the buttons. The action confirmed to Jim that this madman had done something to his ship; something that he didn't want to be _undone_.

Jim glanced at the flashing red beacon causing all the wailing and his heart sank as he realised the gravity of the situation; how on earth did Khan manage to cause such momentous damage?

"I understood your manuals. That's an overload in progress."

Kirk tried to control his erratic breathing pattern as Khan's words washed over him. This maniac had rigged the Enterprise to explode, and if Jim didn't stop him soon then there would be nothing left of any of them.

"Your ship flares up like an exploding sun within minutes." Khan gloated happily

Jim steeled himself for what he was about to do. He knew Khan's reflexes were superior to his own, but the Captain had no other choice if he wanted to save his ship. There was only one way.

He lunged towards the controls with as much speed as he could muster but of course the action was not fast enough. Jim managed to touch one of the buttons in the deactivation sequence before heavy arms took a hold of his whole body and launched him away from the controls.

Jim was spun around during the attack and soon found himself flying through the air uncontrollably; the floor came up to meet him sooner rather than later and he continued to slide towards the other side of the room. The Captain's skid came to an abrupt halt when his back hit the wall with a thud. Jim gritted his teeth against the abuse and quickly pounced back onto his feet quickly recovering his balance and refilling his lungs.

Hundreds of tactics whirled through his mind as he stalked back towards Khan who stood between him and his goal; Jim decided that speed was his best bet. If there was one area Khan was weaker in it was his agility.

Jim hurled himself towards Khan's resolute stance sidestepping as he went and just narrowly ducked under the megalomaniac's swinging fist. Jim's own fist crashed into Khan's midsection as he used his momentum from the run; to the Captain's dismay the heavy blow didn't even cause the superhuman to budge an inch.

Before his brain could notify his body to danger; Khan's fist was suddenly flying towards his face seemingly appearing out of know where. Jim tried to roll with the blow as it connected with his nose, but the unexpected force sent him reeling backwards struggling with his centre of gravity and seeing stars. Even Spock had never hit him that hard during their training; Jim had sorely underestimated his opponent's speed.

The Captain never had a chance to correct his stance into a defensive one as all at once Khan's fists were heading towards his face again. He only just managed to bring up an arm to block the wide hook from Khan; the shock from the blow caused his entire arm to tremor and Jim marvelled that Khan could easily break any of his bones.

Jim had no time to think as blow after blow rained down upon him heading for his face and mid-section; on occasion he just about managed to stop Khan's attacks to reach their mark but mostly Jim was doing a dreadful job at keeping himself defended. Khan pushed the Captain further back into the room with every blow never breaking a sweat, or his stride as he calmly and efficiently kept Jim cornered. The Captain reflected that his opponent looked somewhat _bored;_ this really wasn't even the madman's best.

Jim was sick of the defending position Khan had forced him into it was taking all of his attention to avoid serious damage from the flying fists, but he knew if he wanted any chance to get back to the controls he was going to have to flip the roles. On Khan's next blow Jim didn't even attempt to block it he instead allowed himself to take the hit, so that he could keep his hands free to launch his own attack.

He launched his whole body at his opponent attempting to use his momentum to empower his counter-attack. His fists collided soundly with Khan's jaw, neck and chest in quick succession. Khan staggered back a step but before Jim could capitalise on his new-found advantage he had all of the air stolen from his lungs. Khan's boot struck him squarely in the chest knocking all of his senses and most probably bruising several ribs simultaneously.

For the second time in the brawl Jim found himself lying flat against the back wall; the impact this time sent shooting pain through all of his injuries which doubled the effect of stealing his breath. Jim struggled to simply breath and desperately gasped for precious air; he felt like he'd just been hit by a car or kicked by a horse. He imagined the force of Khan's kick could probably be comparable to either of those two easily.

Still clutching his chest Jim glared up at Khan who hadn't moved; if Kirk thought the inhuman was mad before then he really didn't want to know what Khan was now. The other man's face contorted with rage and that's when Jim spotted the mark he had left on his opponents neck, and heard Khan's breathing grow more laboured. Finally he had broken through the man's defences.

Jim coughed loudly and attempted to rise back into a fighting position; to his dismay it was a lot harder than he had expected. Sadly he could feel all of his pains and the effect they were having on his agility. From the amount of blood sticking to his face Jim concluded his nose was most definitely broken along with probably both of his cheekbones; he imagined he looked an absolute mess. Both his arms felt at the very least sprained and ached badly from blocking all of his enemy's blows, and his chest felt like it had been trampled by a herd of animals. Jim wouldn't be surprised if he had the beginnings of internal bleeding; there wasn't an area of his body that didn't ache miserably.

The Captain managed to steady his footing when he held out a steadying hand to the wall. His eyes glanced to the doorway to engineering briefly and his heart sank as he noticed the progress of the cutting; Spock would still be 5 minutes away.

Khan wiped the blood from his split lip and glanced at it before looking back at his victim; the augmented human almost looked amused and a little surprised.

"You're a competent fighter Captain but you know that you cannot defeat me."

Khan began stepping towards his opponent as Jim decided tactically to feign that he could not stand upright yet without the wall as support; secretly he prepared himself for attack spurred on by the growing insistent warning of the ships imminent destruction.

"You're only human…" Khan almost spat as he dropped his guard seemingly falling straight into Kirk's ruse.

Jim didn't respond verbally he spat his mouth full of blood at his opponent's feet before commencing his planned attack. Kirk lashed out a powerful kick at Khan's shin causing the man to falter and fall forward an inch; this was all Jim needed so he capitalised on his enemy's miscalculation swiftly with a heavy blow to the man's neck. Khan reeled backwards a number of steps eyes bulging, and hand flying to his throat as the man struggled to recover. Jim moved faster than he thought his body capable in his condition and landed blow after blow from every direction; attempting to do as he did with Spock and be as unpredictable as possible.

It wasn't long before Khan was able to defend each and every one of Jim's blows but the pair had travelled back in the direction of the console as Jim gained ground; he realised his best shot was to try and fell his opponent with a move rather similar to the one which Khan employed upon him, so he could shoot round to hopefully deactivate the overload.

Blood racing through his veins and breathing heavily Jim enacted his plan ducking under one of Khan's counter attacks and brought his leg up to connect with his enemy's chest. The kick landed with force but Jim watched in horror as Khan's hands were suddenly around his boot and leg; Khan had _caught_ his roundhouse kick.

Khan allowed himself a triumphant smile and gripped the leg tighter determination flitting across his face; Jim almost lost his balance as the grip strengthened and his brain raced through all the countermoves he could employ. Before he could even think Jim felt a crushing pain race through the trapped limb and all of his breath was stolen away as he was launched upward.

With inhuman strength Khan lifted the Captain up by the leg, rather like a rag doll, and swung him over his own head. He then proceeded to slam Kirk's body down with as much force as he could muster; aided by gravity the Captain smashed into the ground face up with a sickening crunch.

Jim couldn't help it he screamed.

Fire raced up his spine and throughout his entire body and he struggled to catch his breath; his vision became very hazy and black spots danced in front of his eyes as he fought to remain conscious. He couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened to him, one minute he had been on one foot upright with Khan holding his other then in the next second he was upside down with his leg being damn near torn away from his torso.

Jim hadn't felt agony like this in a very long time, he was struggling to remember if ever. The impact had jarred all of his bones and set every nerve aflame, he distinctly remembered hearing several cracks and from the source of his pain he feared that his spine had taken some damage. He didn't know how long he had been screaming or how long it had been since he had hit the floor, but suddenly he realised Khan had released his hold on the Captains leg. The appendage felt numb and Jim was almost certain it was severely damaged; not that his leg was his most pressing concern at present.

Distantly he heard banging and he struggled to locate the source his brain felt so muddled and shaken, and my god why did everything hurt so much? There were no words for this.

"Jim!" Someone's muffled voice yelled along with more insistent banging; it sounded oddly like McCoy but Jim had no idea if he was just imagining his best friend.

After several seconds he regained the ability to breathe and greedily drunk in all the oxygen he could get his hands on. He fought back against the dark haze at the edges of his vision and looked up into the black eyes of Khan standing there looking unfazed and mostly untouched by their fight, which was more honestly a beating now that Jim reflected on it.

Khan's amused face turned to the battering noises pouring through from the sealed doors and Jim could see that the damn things were still going to be shut for at least a few minutes. They probably didn't have a few minutes.

"Get this blasted door open you green-blooded hobgoblin!" The panicked voice reached Jim's ears confirming that Bones was outside the room; he didn't hear an answer from Spock which meant only one thing: he was too worried to answer. In all of his years listening to those two arguing he rarely saw Spock not reply to an insult or barb with one of his own; not unless the Vulcan's mind was elsewhere which for Spock was practically unheard of.

Khan's soft laughter brought Jim's attention back to the current threat; his blood boiled as he glared up at the monster which was very close to murdering all of his crew including his two best friends that were desperately fighting to get through the sealed door. Jim could imagine McCoy's panic and even Spock's growing frustration as the precious seconds ticked by.

"Give up Captain you have lost. Your ship has only _moments_ left."

Kirk glared up at the gloating man as an idea began forming in his addled brain; Khan's greatest weakness was his arrogance. Jim had to try and use that against him in a last ditch attempt to get to the console. He noted that Khan had actually thrown him _closer_ to the console in question and it was tantalisingly near now; only a few strides away. Not only that but his opponent no longer blocked the way between the controls and Jim the thought process was clear; Khan no longer registered the Captain as a threat and was now preparing himself for an onslaught from the main corridor. With the pain Jim felt it was no wonder Khan thought him defeated.

The maniac continued with his victory speech. "We have five times your strength, double your intelligence."

Jim feigned losing consciousness and dared't move a muscle; he wanted his enemy to believe just what he wanted to that he had broken him. It wasn't exactly difficult to play up his injuries as Jim knew them to be serious; his left leg felt oddly numb, his back was still screaming at him and everywhere else tingled with residual pain. He knew even with a burst of adrenaline he would only just be able to clamber his way the last distance to the console before he collapsed; to give himself a fighting chance he planned an attack on the unsuspecting opponent.

"It was fun Captain but this was always how it was going to end; you are _inferior_ after all." Khan stopped pacing and rooted himself at the foot of Jim's body; arrogant smirk etched widely across his features.

Jim didn't dignify the madman with a response he finally let his eyes close and breathing slow to enact his plan; Khan fell for it immediately. No more than a few seconds passed before Kirk heard the enhanced human turn on the spot to face the door, and as far as he was concerned the only _threat_ left to his plans of destruction.

The Captain took a couple of deep breaths whilst steeling himself for the foolishness of what he was about to do; he honestly didn't know if he had the strength within him to carry out his plan but this was the only chance the Enterprise had. His breathing fell inline with the increasing warning sounds emitting just a few feet behind him. Bright hazel eyes snapped open and with every ounce of strength he had left he began.

Kirk was suddenly a blur of motion as his uninjured leg shot out hard; aimed directly at the back of Khan's left knee. A sickening crack reverberated around the sparse room followed by a guttural outcry as Khan's leg buckled underneath him and he was thrust forwards onto hands and knees. Jim rolled away with lightening speed and scrambled towards the engineering console crying out himself as he jolted every broken bone inside his damaged body.

Jim didn't look behind him as he slammed into the console with a grunt; Khan could be right on his heels and this would all be for nothing. The Captain's heartbeat was beating so hard against his chest it felt like it would burst through any second; he drowned out the raging screaming of his enemy and set about deactivating the overload. His fingers were a blur of movement and his eyes darted from the display to the buttons his hands were dancing over, with every passing second he prayed and hoped that the blow he dealt to Khan was enough to buy him the time he needed.

 _"Yes!"_ Jim cried happily inside, he slammed the sequence in with the enter key and grinned as the engineering room finally fell silent. The alarm warning of their imminent destruction had stopped.

The smile was wiped instantly from his face as the burst of adrenaline wore off and it was all he could do but grip the console hard enough to stop his legs from giving way. He manoeuvred his flagging body round to face his enemy, the would be ship-destroyer, leaning heavily on the support behind him and coughing heavily as his lungs cried out for oxygen.

For the first time since their battle had commenced the room was eerily silent: no insistent beeping, no banging on the door, nothing bar the rattling in the Captain's chest even registered for either men. Khan had recovered from Kirk's vicious attack and was standing tall just a few metres away, and the augmented human was absolutely livid. Not that Jim expected any different reaction after what he had just done; a _human_ had just felled this megalomaniac's great scheme.

The two men glared into each other's eyes; Jim's held a defiant spark whilst Khan's _burned_ with rage like a storm none like Jim had ever seen.

"Now would be a good time to get through that door Spock." Jim muttered bitterly as he shuffled as far away from the seething beast before him; losing the comfort of the console's support in the process.

Khan's furious gaze flicked over the console's readouts and controls and he came to the devastating conclusion in seconds; there was no way he could destroy the Enterprise before the team outside burst in which would hopefully be any second now.

"Looks like we're not so inferior after all." Jim remarked with one of his trademark grins plastered to his face; the smile didn't last long before pain etched its way back onto his features.

Khan's frenzied features focused back on the Captain's face and he narrowed his gaze; Kirk noticed the other man's fist's clench, and the side the man had been holding crumpled beneath his grip. Jim gulped nervously as he was once again reminded of how strong his opponent truly was, and he had just poked the bear; hard.

Jim backed away from his enemy slowly step by step limping as he went on his damaged leg. The movement caused shooting torment to rack his frame but he daren't stop circling; Khan was matching him step for step and now had his back to the terminal Jim had just deactivated.

Everything seemed to stop for a moment and Jim almost lost his footing as his injured leg finally gave up supporting his body. He swayed on the spot and attempted to hold his ground against the predator across from him knowing that he had very little chance of staying on his feet much longer; when his enemy attacked Kirk calculated there was only one outcome he didn't have the strength to stop the enhanced being any longer. Precious seconds ticked by; Jim felt his resolve weakening as Khan strengthened. The augmented human's temper had been growing in the last few moments and Jim knew that all that pent up energy would be directed straight at him.

Jim almost didn't believe what his eyes were telling him as Khan suddenly launched himself at the broken Captain; he rocketed towards Jim at full tilt arms up ready to grab onto his victim. Jim was reminded briefly of a bull charging. Khan did not slow as he neared the Captain if anything he actually increased his pace; a war-cry accompanied his charge as he slammed straight into Jim's ill-prepared body.

Jim tried to move into a defensive position as soon as he realised that Khan intended to ram him but his body would no longer cooperate, so he was utterly helpless as his enemy hurled into him and he found himself lifted off the floor with ease. White hot pain shot down his back and through his chest as what felt like a train hit him head on; all the air was stolen from his lungs and he heard himself distantly yell out with the impact. They travelled like this for a few moments, Khan picking up speed with the screaming Captain in his clutches; tackling him further and further backwards.

The hurtling tangling of limbs came to an abrupt stop when Jim's back collided with the wall, Khan's momentum carried him forward into his victim's ribcage with a sickening crunch. Jim gasped as his mind struggled to respond or even continue functioning; he found himself utterly breathless and couldn't for the life of him find the strength to supply his lungs with air. As his head collided with the back wall with a sickening thud he instantly found himself falling towards darkness unconsciousness welcoming him back like an old friend.

The last thing he remembered before his sight blackened was Khan's sneering face inches away from his. Before he drifted too far into the abyss he was wrenched swiftly away from darkness as an increasing pressure from his chest brought him back to consciousness.

Jim screamed hoarsely as he felt Khan's fist press deeply against one of his many broken ribs; the sudden reappearance of blinding pain elsewhere from his head had succeeded in dragging him away from passing out. Jim had never known misery like this; every part of him screamed out all he wanted to do was shut his eyes and say goodbye to the misery but Khan had other plans.

"You're not slipping away that easily!" Khan spat into Jim's bloodied face.

The Captain realised that the only reason he wasn't slumped in a pile on the floor was because of his enemy's strong grip keeping him upright; the pressure increased across his collar bone as he felt his legs entirely give way to dangle freely. Khan picked him up easily and readjusted him higher up the wall; the small jolt was like fire. With all the damage the augmented human had inflicted his enemy only need shake Kirk to inflict unending misery.

Jim couldn't help but start to close his eyes against the pain again; his head felt like it was splitting open and evidently did not agree with his continued consciousness.

Khan viciously drove a fist directly into his left shoulder and the room echoed with Jim's haunted cry alongside a sickening crack. Stars exploded all over Jim's vision but yet again Khan's cruel punishment stopped him from simply escaping from the pain; the monster wanted his victim to _feel_ every last second of his vengeance.

"Khan!"

Jim saw his opponents eyes go wide as they both registered the new voice and more precisely who it belonged to. The Captain couldn't help but allow a smile to pull at his lips as he looked over his enemy's shoulder and saw that Spock had finally broken through that bloody door.

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 **A/N - This story should have 3 chapters in all, I'll be posting the next part tomorrow!**

 **Until next time...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Thanks very much to those who reviewed and followed, here is the second part as promised!**

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Spock's usually steady hand shook ever so slightly as his phaser beam sliced through the last remaining section of the door; it had been exactly 6 minutes and 32 seconds since the Captain had entered engineering and the pair had been separated by the very obstacle he was now slicing through. It took no longer than 15 seconds to discover Khan's treachery with the controls and Spock calculated the quickest route into engineering would be to cut a new way through so the Vulcan had set about the task immediately. It had not been fast enough.

4 minutes into his task Spock was joined by a security team headed by Mr Scott and then after another 46 seconds Dr McCoy raced down the corridor. Mr Scott informed Spock what he already suspected; Khan had rigged the engines to overload and if he wasn't stopped then the Enterprise would be no more.

For the majority of the cutting Spock had heard faint conversation from beyond the walls and scuffling sounds indicating a fight was underway; the knowledge troubled to Spock no end as he calculated the chances of his Captain defeating Khan in a brawl to be 0.093%. The sounds increased in volume alongside the grunts of pain as injury was sustained; the first officer tried to drown the sounds out as surprisingly they were effecting his concentration.

McCoy and the security team kept their distance whilst Spock worked away; that was until they heard Jim scream. Spock's gaze drifted from the phaser to stare directly at the direction of the scream; he willed the door to melt away faster but knew the impulse to be highly illogical. Why was it always Jim who could make him feel worry like this? Why couldn't he have just run that little bit faster and caught up to his Captain?

Spock fought the unwanted emotions away as he felt McCoy's patience snap and the good Doctor slammed on the door whist shouting for Jim; Spock understood the emotional outburst even though he knew the act to be illogical. Shouting for Jim would not make his task anymore expedient or cause Khan to give up in anyway it was a human need, and so Spock ignored the pounding and concentrated surely on his phaser.

He distantly heard another of the doctors insults directed at him something to do with the colour of his blood; this was a favourite of McCoy's when the Doctor was too pre-occupied to think of anything new. Spock didn't pretend to understand the twisted psychology of McCoy and frankly had no desire too, as long as the doctor didn't physically get in his way of getting to Jim then the man could rant and rave as much as he wanted. Spock suspected it helped humans somewhat.

"Mr Spock the engine overload has been deactivated…" Scotty whispered in disbelief just over the XO's shoulder.

Spock's brow rose in genuine surprise at the information as they had all heard the Captain's distress, and Spock knew from the sound levels of the cries that Jim was in considerable pain. The odds of him actually getting the better of Khan to disable the overload were not in his favour and yet all the evidence seemed to suggest that he had done it.

The silence inside the room drew on for 17 seconds; the lack of noise was troubling as Spock had no data to calculate if either man had emerged victorious. The question was soon answered as a another scuffle broke out and this time Spock couldn't hide the anguish from his face as Jim screamed out again.

The next 24 seconds passed in a blur as Spock used both hands to steady his now visibly trembling gun arm; he could hear McCoy shouting and raving behind him so Spock blocked out the distracting noise and focussed his enhanced hearing on what was happening inside the room. He could hear Jim struggling for breath and Khan speaking to him; he could hear his Captains bones breaking under Khan's attacks and worst of all he could hear Jim's agonising howling. Spock knew that sound would haunt him for some time to come.

Hands shaking with rage and breath quickening into short angered puffs Spock lowered the phaser and kicked the door in, and the entire metal hole that he had cut fell with a resounding clang. Distantly he could feel the bruise already forming on his foot but squashed the pain immediately, but when he attempted to do the same with his burning rage he found he could not. The worrying thing was Spock wasn't sure he wanted to calm down; Khan had to be stopped at all costs.

The sight that greeted him when he entered was almost enough to steal the first officer's breath away; it was only decades of discipline and controlling his emotions that stopped him from freezing in his tracks. Up against the far wall Khan had pinned Jim and when the Vulcan spotted his Captain's face he knew any chance of controlling his violent thoughts had just been obliterated. Jim was a mess and the anguish that contorted his features told Spock everything he needed to know about his CO's condition. Khan had almost killed him, he might still.

"Khan!" He shouted, surprising himself with the malice lacing his voice.

Spock felt anger unlike any he had ever experienced in his life even more so than when he was a small child with no control of his emotions. The Vulcan knew if he did not attempt to restrain his murderous feelings immediately he would lose control; hearing his Captain's desperate attempts to claw in oxygen Spock decided he did not want to control this fire he wanted to use it against Khan.

He held up his phaser and aimed it squarely at the madman's back hearing his crew-members do the same. Khan finally acknowledge them but did not release his hold on the Captain's battered form; he stepped aside enough however for Spock and the rest of the crew to get a proper look at the condition of their CO.

"My god Jim…" McCoy exclaimed in a shocked whisper.

For once it seemed the good Doctor was lost for words. Spock did not blame him neither man had ever seen Jim in a state like this; Khan had tortured their Captain to within an inch of his life.

Spock's hate-filled eyes met Khan's triumphant gaze it was obvious that the crazed madman enjoyed seeing all of their reactions to his handy work. Spock felt the fire inside him grow as Khan actually had the audacity to smile. The first officer glanced back into his Captain's face and was dismayed to see Jim with his head down and eyes closed evidently struggling with the battle to remain conscious; Spock was surprised the stubborn officer hadn't already succumbed with injuries like that.

Spock turned his attention back to the monster still holding Jim up, "Release him."

"Or what?" Khan replied in an amused tone. "You can't fire at me without risking the ship _exploding._ "

Khans eyes danced with triumph as realisation dawned on Spock hitting him like a tonne of bricks; the main reactor was located directly behind the entangled pair. Khan was correct in his assessment if a phaser was fired in his direction there was a 0.43 chance of the engines being disturbed which could in turn cause a chain reaction. Only one way to settle this then.

"I don't need a phaser." Spock replied coldly passing it backwards to Scotty without as much as a word to ease the worried looks on his crew-mates faces.

McCoy caught his gaze for a second and Spock was sure if the Doctor had reacquired use of his tongue the man would have questioned what in the hell he was doing. In truth Spock was doing the only logical action possible; it just so happened that the action matched the emotional response of everybody in this room.

Logically there was only one way to lure Khan away from the Captain: by engaging him in a new challenge. Spock knew he had caught the madman's interest as a wry smile played over his lips and he seemed to forget Kirk's presence; just as Spock had intended.

"Doctor once he releases Jim get to him." Spock ordered softly not breaking his gaze with Khan.

He started towards the augmented human before McCoy could utter another of his many curses or declarations of Spock's insanity. He didn't have the time or patience for such an argument; Jim's life was slipping away before their very eyes.

Khan took one last look at his previous victim before releasing his hold on the Captain's shoulders. Spock watched horrified as Jim crumpled like a puppet who's strings had just been cut; the impact caused a painful moan to erupt from the downed Captain's lips before he stopped moving altogether. Spock was thankful to see the gentle rise and fall of Jim's chest otherwise he would have been fooled into thinking that his Captain was already dead; he certainly looked like death.

Khan proceeded closer to Spock and in turn Spock proceeded further away from the security team as well as Jim's crumpled form; he needed to give McCoy the space to get to the Captain as all the calculations racing through his mind informed him Jim didn't have long.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Khan chuckled as he advanced ever closer to the retreating Vulcan.

Spock noted with relief that Dr McCoy had reached the Captain's side and the pair of them were being covered by the remaining security team; seeing Jim's broken body crash into the ground had been the last crack in his control. Spock glared at his opponent as his own fists clenched uncontrollably and his entire body trembled with unimaginable fury; shortly his greatest desire consumed him entirely: the desire to _destroy_ Khan.

"No you will not." Spock's hostile tone sounded foreign even to his own ears; soaked in vengeance and blood. "But I will."

In a flurry of movement he unleashed the raging storm that had been steadily growing inside of him and brought it down with full force upon his enemy; Spock felt like he was burning alive as he allowed the feeling to strengthen his muscles and feed his blood-lust. The Vulcan burned like a dying sun exploding into a supernova; like a whole screaming world on fire.

* * *

Dr McCoy's throat felt as dry as sand paper and he found his brain unwilling to formulate thoughts; he couldn't tear his eyes away from the bloodied body of his best friend. He had expected Jim to be injured after they all heard his cries but Bones had never imagined seeing his Captain in a state like this; not after such a short period of time. He continued to try and catch Jim's gaze just as he had been as soon as the group had entered engineering but it was evident the Captain wasn't really seeing any of them; not that Bones blamed him with injuries as severe as those most men wouldn't still be conscious.

McCoy could already visually see a number of serious injuries sustained by Jim; his face was a bloody mess and clearly the Captain had suffered head trauma. Head injuries were by far the most dangerous in a patient and it looked as though Jim had suffered several fractures. The wheezing wrenching sounds passing Kirk's lips informed the Doctor that his friend certainly had a number of broken ribs, which had most likely pierced a lung. In fact the longer Bones surveyed his friend he realised with grim determination that it probably would be quicker to list what was _right_ with the Captain's body.

The Doctor heard distantly Khan and Spock conversing; if he had been paying proper attention he would have noted the Vulcan was not entirely acting like himself but his attention was purely on Jim who had just closed his eyes and let his head fall forward. Bones could see he was just about hanging onto consciousness but that would not be the case for much longer, they needed to get him out of the clutches of that madman.

Spock turned suddenly drawing McCoy's attention away from Jim; he instructed the Doctor to get the Captain when Khan moved away. McCoy was lost for words as he searched the first officer's face he had never been good at reading the Vulcan, but there was no room for mistake now; Spock was enraged. Only then did Bones realise what Spock planned to do; he had been so intent on Jim that he missed the latest development. Spock was drawing Khan away from Jim towards himself.

Bones' attention snapped back to his best friend as Khan cruelly released his hold on his victim; McCoy couldn't help but gasp as he witnessed the Captain crash to the floor and land with a groan. His legs moved of their own accord and he found himself racing towards his discarded friend with disregard to his own safety; it needn't have mattered as he saw Spock draw Khan away out of the corner of his eye. If only he could get his hands on that monster!

McCoy squashed his feelings of rage for the augmented human; the emotion would not help Jim. He glanced at Spock and was immediately alarmed by the man's body language; if that were any other crewman then McCoy would identify the speech and actions to coincide with the desire to _rip_ Khan limb from limb, but this was Spock. Perhaps McCoy wouldn't need to worry about revenge if Spock's latest words were anything to go by; they sounded foreign to the Vulcan's tongue.

McCoy crouched down next to Jim and swiftly rolled his friend into a position where his breathing would not be impaired; no matter what other injuries the younger man had sustained if he didn't address this then would be no point in anything else. The Doctor went into full analysis mode as his mind expertly assessed which areas to treat first; he placed a comforting hand on Jim's shoulder as he ran his Tricorder over the Captain's body. Jim flinched instinctively at the first touch before relaxing as Bones made him aware that he was in safe hands.

He prepared a hypo with a large dose of painkillers immediately as he observed his friend's pain-wracked features; this would do no more than take the edge off but he had to do something to alleviate Jim's misery. Bones swiftly took readings and barked out orders into his communicator for Christine to bring a med-team and anti-grav board to collect the Captain; they would have to be careful with moving him as McCoy had detected several cracked vertebrae along Jim's spine.

Jim's eyes fluttered open with extreme effort; Bones could see from his friends questioning gaze that he wanted to speak to find out was going on. There was no way the Doctor was going to allow Jim to do anymore damage to his lungs and chest than what had already been done. ' _Stubborn idiot',_ Bones mused.

"Don't you dare try to speak Jim." Bones cautioned wagging a finger in his friend's face. "Just let me take care of you alright, the ship's safe and Khan is being dealt with."

It was only then that the Doctor allowed himself to acknowledge the brutal fight occurring on the other side of the room; until now all of his focus had been solely on Jim. At first glance McCoy couldn't keep up with either man; their fists were a blur and both of them were moving far too swiftly to keep track of each hit. Arms and legs shot out from either side and were blocked expertly more often than not; when the blows did hit Bones heard cracks and felt sickened as realisation dawned that both men's strength was enough to break the other's bones with one strike.

McCoy recognised Spock was utilising deadly Vulcan martial arts as he launched Khan into the air before twisting his arm viciously, and slamming him back towards the ground with anger that McCoy didn't believe the Vulcan was capable of; so much for no emotions.

Bones let his attention wander from the nauseating spectacle to look back down at his patient. Jim looked like he was about to ignore his Doctor's orders anyway but only for a second; a tremor of pain racked the younger man's body and forced Jim to squeeze his eyes shut against the anguish.

McCoy ran his Tricorder over Jim again for a more detailed view and grimaced against the findings; Jim had pressure building in his head that was starting to press against the man's skull. He also found a rather nasty skull fracture. Bones daren't risk putting Jim under with no resuscitation equipment that would have to wait until they made it upstairs; instead he prepared an injection into the hypo-spray that would help alleviate the pressure in the mean time.

He gently cut away Jim's shirt to get at his chest and suppressed another wave of anger towards the monster that did _this_ to his friend. The Captain's chest was an array of bruises and angry swelling it honestly looked like someone had splattered paint all over it. McCoy sighed deeply as he scanned and discovered internal bleeding, multiple broken ribs and just as he suspected a rib had nicked the left lung. He hardly could believe that one man had been responsible for the multitude of injuries; it looked as though Jim had been trampled by a herd of horses.

The longer McCoy looked over his friend the more he realised that Jim needed help urgently he was running out of ways to help with his limited field kit. Spock better hurry up and despatch with Khan; the two brawling fighters were still making a racket and Bones winced when he saw Spock sustain a nasty blow to his ribs and heard the unmistakable sound of bones snapping. The first officer retaliated immediately and broke more of Khan's bones with his next blinding set of moves; McCoy had only seen the first office spar fleetingly he had never realised how deadly a fighter Spock was. In this state these two men could quite easily take on hundreds of enemy's and walk away with barely more than a few bruises.

Bones continued his treatment on Jim automatically as he surveyed the rest of the room; Scotty and his men had formed a protective ring around Jim's fallen body, and all had their phasers out pointed at the enemy. He noted the bewildered look on his comrades faces as they tried to keep up with their XO's accelerated, brutal actions.

"I've never seen Mr. Spock fight like that before…" Whispered Scotty evidently in shock over the raw power the men were exhibiting; after seeing their Captain's state everyone had come to the conclusion that Khan could not be taken on hand to hand, well everyone except Spock.

McCoy kept one eye on the ongoing fight as deft hands moved over Jim's body automatically applying the tissue regenerator in an attempt to reduce his friend's pain; the longer he watched the more sure he became that something was very wrong with Spock. The Vulcan's entire being screamed uncontrollable rage; he was being careless and quite evidently didn't care or feel his own injuries as long as his response to Khan was worst than he received. It was clear that Khan was having trouble keeping up with his opponent and more often than not was on the receiving end of Spock's rage; any human receiving such treatment would be dead by now. Bones flinched as he heard further sickening bone crunching he had long since given up trying to keep up with the injuries being sustained on either side. Bones was becoming worried that Spock could take things too far; the way things were going the Vulcan was going to kill his opponent.

"Neither have I."

* * *

Spock moved like a whirlwind around his enemy with a strength far greater than he had ever experienced. Strike after strike his hands and feet collided with Khan's form with a resounding crunch never once letting up, or allowing his opponent to regain any defensive position. Spock had already observed the other man's reducing agility and noted that he appeared to be favouring his right side, so Spock used this knowledge to his advantage and continued to prey on his enemy's weakening state.

Spock moved purely instinctively as he allowed the fire to consume him; he hadn't relied on his base instincts like this when fighting since he had first learnt the ancient art of Vulcan martial arts. He had struggled as a boy to keep his control when the lessons had first been taught to him; now after decades of training the fighting form was as natural to him as breathing; not that he'd ever employed it to this extent before any of his previous opponent's would surely be dead by now. Khan was more resistant than Spock had anticipated.

Khan suddenly made a sloppy mistake leaving himself open to Spock for one second too long; the first officer grabbed the augmented human's arm and in a particularly advanced and fast move had the man flying over his head with his limb still held painfully in Spock's grip. Just at the precise moment Spock pulled hard on the captured limb and was rewarded with Khan tumbling to the ground to land in a heap at his feet; the first officer was satisfied with hearing a large pop and knew he had been successful in carrying out the move as Khan's left shoulder dislocated.

Spock swiftly sought the other man's shoulder intending to find the correct nerves before his opponent recovered; the Vulcan pinched hard in the same area as he would with humans and was hardly surprised when the inhuman not only remained conscious but alive. The force Spock had used would have killed any other.

Khan screamed out against the assault and visibly weakened under Spock's iron-clad grip, so focussed on applying more pressure Spock failed to see Khans leg swing backwards at him. The force was enough to momentarily stun the first officer, and he found himself stumble backwards a few steps placidly ignoring the fact Khan had just broken another of his ribs. Spock buried the pain deep within him just as he had with all the other injuries, and with due haste started aggressively towards his enemy.

Khan's left arm hung uselessly at his side after the dislocation and Spock noted the other man's features were strained in pain, _good._ Spock could still hear his Captain's laboured wheezing; he could hear the groans of misery and Jim's haunting screams of agony still echoed in Spock's mind. Spurred on by the sound Spock lashed out at his opponent with the intent of dispatching with this madman once and for all.

Spock's fists struck out aiming at Khan's head and neck with anew strength; Khan only managed to defend himself 50% of the time which was not nearly enough. Soon the augmented human's breathing grew more laboured and his balance became almost untenable. The duo were nearing the edge of the room now with Spock pushing Khan back further by the second; it wasn't before long that Khan found his back against the wall. With nowhere to go he was cornered.

The first officer continued his assault his blows becoming more frenzied by the second as he saw his enemy weakening. He aimed a killing strike directly where Khan's head had been just a microsecond before; the man had only just managed to duck in time but Spock had been unable to stop his forceful hand. Spock gritted his teeth sorely as his fist collided with the dura-steel wall and felt the usually unforgiving metal give way beneath his force; lifting his fist backwards revealed a newly created mould of the XO's fist.

Spock gave the matter no more thought as Khan capitalised on his mistake by delivering a blow directly to the Vulcan's heart. Spock gasped loudly and stumbled backwards from his cornered opponent; his heart fluttered violently in his side over the assault and Spock strove to regain control of the pain and his body.

Khan grinned as he noted he had finally found the Vulcan's weak spot his grin didn't last long however as Spock straightened and somehow he looked angrier, more powerful. The augmented human charged towards the first officer with the intent to ram his away to safety, but Spock was having none of it. The Vulcan was completely prepared for the charge and easily caught his enemy; Spock then lifted Khan up and with a guttural cry threw the man back at the wall viscously.

Khan crashed high up the wall and couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips; he saw stars before realisation dawned that he was falling to the ground uncontrollably. The augmented human landed with a loud groan and immediately curled his arms around his injured mid-section.

Spock stalked towards the felled human expeditiously noting and cataloguing all the injuries just inflicted on his opponent; the odds of Khan fighting again after that collision were minimal. The first officer's boot found Khan's face and he heard a rewarding crunch when the man's head flew back, and he ended up with his back to the wall still slumped on the floor.

Spock's hand flew out towards his target, Khan's neck, and lifted the man off the floor easily. With the madman's neck within his grip Spock lifted his opponent up high and slammed him back into the wall; Khan's desperate limbs crashed into every part of the first officer in an attempt to force him to loosen his grip on his throat; it was futile. The action only ensured Khan's own demise as Spock's fingers tightened around his defeated foe's neck; Khan's face grew more distressed and his gasping became more prominent the longer Spock pressed.

Distantly he heard shouts around him; did the crew wish him to spare this monster? After what he had done to the ship, the crew, to _Jim._ Spock blocked out all the shouting and chaos as his emotions reigned supreme, that was until he heard one voice that he could never ignore.

"Spock…" The fragile whisper croaked.

The Vulcan officer blinked rapidly as his mind deciphered the owner of the voice he was so sure his mind was playing tricks on him; that was until he turned his head to the side and looked over at Jim.

His eyes sought his Captain's ignoring everyone else present; Jim looked worse than Spock had remembered it was clear the man was only just hanging onto reality. Spock searched his Captain's pain-wracked features for an answer and found one when Jim slowly shook his head; Jim did not want Spock to kill Khan.

It was as if the haze suddenly cleared; Spock turned his head back to the writhing man beneath his grip and observed Khan was only seconds away from death. Spock released his grip on Khan's neck immediately acting as if just touching Khan's skin had burned him; the Vulcan stumbled backwards unsteadily mind racing to catch up with what he had just done. That had not been logical in the slightest; his actions had been entirely driven by emotion. Spock felt nauseous for 2.3 seconds before realising he did not have the luxury of time for self-recrimination at present; he was supposed to be in command it was time he started acting like it.

The first officer turned to face the crew rather more unsteadily on his feet than he would like, and noted immediately all of their expressions. Shock, awe, terror, worry. Why did humans have to broadcast their emotions so clearly it was rather disconcerting seeing seasoned officers frozen.

"Lieutenant please secure the prisoner." Spock's voice was not nearly as steady as he would have liked, so he coughed before continuing. "Make sure to sedate him."

The spell was suddenly broken as the security team moved to surround Khan and set about following Spock's orders; he noted they gave Spock a wide berth as they moved past. He had scared them or rather his capability scared them.

His eyes roamed towards his Captain and Spock's felt terror rack his frame as he noticed Jim's eyes had closed; the Captain had finally given into unconsciousness. He was currently being loaded onto an anti-grav board with extra precautions to ensure there was no further damage to his spine, and Spock noted that an entire med-team was fussing over the Captain including Nurse Chapel. When had they arrived?

Spock was brought out of his thoughts abruptly as he noted McCoy heading in his direction looking absolutely furious; the Vulcan schooled his features and attempted to stand steadier than he felt. From the look on McCoy's features the obvious subterfuge hadn't fooled him one bit.

"Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!" McCoy ran a weathered eye over the first officer and Spock knew the Doctor was busy assessing his condition.

It was as if his body was reacting to the Doctor's scrutiny as suddenly the room grew rather more turbulent and all of his suppressed injuries chose that moment to flare up; Spock knew McCoy hadn't missed the wince he couldn't help but slip through his stoic mask.

When no other response came to mind Spock decided on playing innocent. "Doctor?"

He knew almost immediately that he had made a mistake as the Doctor's temper flared and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Don't Doctor me, you almost got yourself killed Spock!"

Spock was about to call the Doctor overly dramatic when another dizzy spell demanded all of his attention; he closed his eyes against the feeling. It took all of his control not to end up in a heap on the floor; now the adrenaline had worn off and his emotions subsided there wasn't much left holding the Vulcan upright. Spock acknowledged he had ignored some rather serious injuries during his and Khan's altercation; in-fact the Doctor was indeed right: he could have been killed.

"I am not dead." Spock replied calmly in an effort to relieve some of the Doctor's fears. He quickly scolded himself for choosing entirely the wrong words; McCoy would interpret them entirely the wrong way.

Sure enough the Doctor ran a shaking hand over his features roughly and sighed loudly; when he removed his hand Spock identified McCoy to be in full 'Doctor mode'. There would be no stopping the good Doctor now.

McCoy paced back towards Jim as the nurses had finished loading him up; he barked out orders at a dizzying rate.

"Take him directly to the surgery room; I want him hooked up to everything and I mean everything. As soon as he's connected he needs to be placed into an induced coma to reduce the swelling on his brain; the scans of his injuries are all on here."

McCoy handed the nurses his tricorder before informing them that he would be upstairs in two minutes; his gaze turned back to Spock and the Vulcan knew immediately he was in trouble. When McCoy was in this mode he was not a man to be trifled with; Spock reflected that the Doctor resembled an oncoming storm.

"Christine call for another anti-grav board and then _assist_ Mr Spock to the med-bay."

The tone he used indicated the Doctor was not to be trifled with. Spock had a duty to his ship however and with the Captain incapacitated it fell to him to ensure the Enterprises' safety; it was logical yet Spock already knew McCoy wouldn't buy it.

"Doctor I assure you I do not…" Spock was interrupted as McCoy came flying towards him.

"Don't you dare Spock!" The Vulcan remained uncharacteristically silent as McCoy's emotional outburst stunned him. Spock blinked as he allowed the shock to wash over him; perhaps he had miscalculated the strain that had been placed on McCoy.

"Do you think I'm deaf as well as blind? I lost count of the amount of your bones Khan broke, your breathing is shallow, your system's strained and I can see you're favouring your left leg from here!"

Now that McCoy mentioned it the first officer re-catalogued that his left leg was in worse condition than originally stated, and if the Doctor could see his strain then his mind evidently wasn't concealing as much as he thought it was.

"With the Captain…" Spock was going to point out that with Jim injured he was now expected to take command; it seemed the Doctor knew exactly what he was about to say.

"You're not fit to take command Spock, hell you look like you'll keel over any second now!"

Spock ignored the Doctor's rather accurate comment as he felt his legs threaten to buckle once again; did the Doctor not understand they had only just emerged from danger. The Enterprise needed a Commander.

"Doctor the ship is my priority and she is in danger."

"Hogwash!" McCoy shouted. "The danger has passed and you know as well as I do that Scotty is more than capable of commanding this ship."

Scotty had been silent until now quietly observing the proceedings; at McCoy's comment he nodded in agreement over the Doctor's suggestion. Spock sighed inwardly; he had no doubt in the Chief Engineer's command but what if disaster did strike again?

McCoy could see that Spock was still refusing to listen to reason and so promptly moved to his last resort; patience entirely obliterated and his need to attend Jim clouding his thoughts.

"Spock so help me god if you don't come to sick-bay of your own volition as Chief Medical Officer I will relieve you of your command, order every security officer to hunt you down, stun your ass and drag you into sickbay by your ears!"

The room was eerily quiet as McCoy raged; Spock's brow rose in astonishment. He hadn't seen McCoy lose control like this in quite some time, and Spock did not doubt the Doctor's resolve to carry out his threat; there was nothing else for it Spock would have to concede.

"I will attend sick-bay Doctor."

It was obvious from the Doctor's reaction that this was not the response he was expecting; McCoy dropped his aggressive stance as realisation dawned upon him that he had just gotten his most stubborn patient to agree. The Doctor didn't waste any time and swiftly ordered Nurse Chapel to order another anti-grav board down; Spock refrained from comment. He had no intention on being lifted through the corridors for all to see; McCoy hadn't specified _how_ the Vulcan had to get to sick-bay.

The Doctor turned to face Spock once more. "Spock let Christine attend to you before you fall flat on your face." The tone still held a gruff note but the Vulcan also detected a hint of worry bleeding through.

Spock looked from the Doctor to Scotty who was patiently awaiting orders which caused McCoy to sigh in frustration; before Spock could explain that he needed time to ensure Scotty was up to speed the Doctor beat him to it.

"30 seconds and no more Spock." He gave the Vulcan one more withering look before making a beeline for the door, but before he exited he turned back. "I expect to see you in the med-bay in 5 minutes Spock. I mean it."

Spock was in no doubt of the Doctor's conviction so simply nodded his acceptance of the agreement; McCoy looked at Nurse Chapel and wished her luck in a sarcastic tone before scurrying out of engineering with haste.

Nurse Chapel hovered by his elbow as he proceeded to give Scotty his orders. "Mr Scott you will proceed to starbase 12 with due haste and inform starfleet of our current situation. All the prisoners are to be kept sedated until we reach the starbase, and you will send hourly reports to me in the med-bay."

"Aye Sir." Scotty turned and left leaving only Spock and Nurse Chapel.

He could feel her concerned gaze on him and found it rather disconcerting; he could tell she was seeing straight through his feeble attempts of covering up his injuries which were quickly turning into more than even he could handle.

"Mr. Spock will you let me help you sit down?"

He fought off another wave of dizziness as he moved his head rather too quickly to stare at her; she didn't miss the reaction and held out a steadying hand to correct his balance before he fell. It was funny he hadn't actually realised he was off balance; the revelation was most unsettling.

"That will not be necessary Nurse." He replied cooly; it was clear from her reaction that he had not been able to keep his voice steady.

"The anti-grav board will be here soon and then we can get you upstairs." She continued attempting to coax his confused body into sitting down.

Spock found his feet reluctant to move correctly and soon found himself unwillingly latching onto the crewman's arm for balance; black spots dancing teasingly in front of his eyes. Why would his body refuse to operate?

"I do not need…" Whatever words he was about to say next never came; Spock's vision greyed entirely and he felt his legs give way completely. He heard Nurse Chapel distantly cry out in alarm as she lost hold of his arm. The last conscious thought the Vulcan had before the floor came up to meet him was that perhaps he had miscalculated the extent of his injuries. Spock hit the ground with a resounding thud and knew no more.

* * *

 **A/N - The final part should be posted tomorrow some time.**

 **Until next time...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - And here's the final part enjoy!**

* * *

Spock's dreams were confusing and fleeting; moments of the fight replayed in his mind as he saw himself through a red haze. He grew more restless as images flashed of Jim gripped in Khan's hand's utterly helpless, Jim lying in a pool of steadily growing crimson, Jim dead.

The Vulcan woke with a start as he detected something making contact with his arm; his hand immediately shot out to defend himself and came to land on warm skin. He opened his eyes and looked into the face of Doctor McCoy who still held a hypo-spray next to the first officer's skin; it took Spock a little longer than usual to connect the injection with his awakening. Bones stayed silent and calm as Spock readjusted to his surroundings and ascertained he was in no danger; the Vulcan released his grip on McCoy's arm and relaxed back in bed. The Doctor hadn't flinched and didn't look angry after the reflex if anything he looked amused which was curious.

"Welcome back to the land of the living sleeping beauty." The jovial tone helped Spock bring himself fully back into alertness; not that he would tell the good Doctor that of course.

Spock ignored the sarcastic barb and instead ran a critical eye over his surroundings; his eyes fell on a bed to his right and his chest dropped as he saw the occupant: Jim. The Vulcan attempted to garner as much visual evidence as he could to ascertain his Captain's condition; Spock was honestly just relieved to see the man alive. His dreams had left him rather unsettled.

Spock's attention returned to the Doctor as McCoy ran his tricorder over Spock's frame, and referred to his clipboard; adding notes in areas and correcting some in others. The Vulcan tested his throat with a cough before beginning his evidence gathering; he needed information.

"How long?" Spock's throat sounded a little unsteady even to his own ears.

"Three hours and 42 minutes." McCoy supplied helpfully his attention still on the readings; Spock knew the Doctor always had trouble with his Vulcan physiology with it differing so far from a human's.

This information puzzled the first officer for a few moments; he should not have remained unconscious for such an extended period of time. After further analysis Spock detected hints of a sedative circling his blood stream; McCoy read his mind before he could voice the accusing query.

"And yes you're damn right I sedated you. I wanted you to stay put for more than 10 minutes to actually let me do my job."

Spock closed his eyes to regain control that Doctor McCoy had unknowingly just toppled; he was clearly still compromised. Spock hated not being in control and the Doctor had taken that away from him; whether it was in his best interest or not was beside the point Spock had a duty to this ship and he could not perform said duty whilst unconscious.

"Doctor what if there had been an emergency on the bridge?"

Doctor McCoy clamped down onto the obvious guilt trip immediately snapping at his patient. "For god's sake Spock we're obviously still alive; _if_ there had been a problem Scotty would have dealt with it."

Spock wanted to argue the case further but the Doctor didn't give him a chance; he resigned that there was no logic in trying to debate the past with McCoy as it would not change his current predicament. It was like the old earth idiom he had often heard the crew use _'It's no use crying over spilt milk.'_

McCoy grinned triumphantly at Spock's silence. "So want to hear the diagnosis?"

Spock accepted his fate grimly and nodded slowly.

"Well you certainly gave the bone knitter a good workout; 4 broken ribs, both arms sprained, heavy concussion, skull fracture, irregular heart rhythm not to mention severe bruising and a broken hand from your run in with the wall; nobody can believe you punched through dura-steel by the way but there's a Spock shaped hole to prove it!"

Spock listened as the Doctor reeled off the rather large list and winced at the last detail; another distressing reminder of his complete loss of control and cause of his current shame. He had attempted to keep track of his own injuries during the ordeal, but it was evident his concentration must have been effected as some of the injuries were news to the Vulcan.

"I did not intend to strike the wall Doctor." Spock interrupted in a grave tone; the moment in question haunting his mind. He illogically felt his broken hand flinch as he remembered the white hot pain shooting up his arm as the wall crumbled beneath his will; it was a wonder he had been able to bury the agony.

"No I know." McCoy replied evenly knowing full well that the blow was meant for Khan.

The Doctor coughed as an awkward silence fell between the pair; he finished his scans and moved onto a visual examination of Spock's injuries poking and prodding areas to assess the Vulcan's response. Once the Doctor was satisfied with the progress of Spock's healing he turned his attention back to his patient's mental state.

"How are you feeling?"

For a fleeting moment Spock considered stretching the truth and simply stating that he was fine; the notion didn't last long as Spock knew McCoy would see straight through any subterfuge. There was no point in lying.

"Sore." He answered finally, he would have to enter a Vulcan healing trance to speed up his recovery but the bone knitter had evidently done a good job.

McCoy's brows rose at the honesty and Spock could see by the other man's features that the good Doctor was clearly shocked.

"I'm not surprised after that fight, you two really didn't pull any punches." McCoy murmured thoughtfully.

Again Spock felt deep shame tinge his features the Doctor was correct; he knew better than anyone how deeply he had lost control and to make matters worse some of the crew had seen him McCoy included.

"Speaking of which…" McCoy trailed off as he struggled to think of where to begin; Spock knew the Doctor wanted to ask about his out of character actions down in engineering.

"Doctor can we postpone this conversation to a later date." His tone was strained, features pained. Spock needed time to sort through his thoughts before bringing them to the forefront where they could prove to be uncontrollable.

"Spock I really don't think you should bottle this up…" McCoy began gently before being interrupted by the first officer again.

"Please Doctor."

McCoy stopped in his tracks and really looked at the Vulcan; he had never heard Spock plead with anyone. Perhaps Spock did need time to sort through it all on his own first.

"Okay Spock but this conversation is delayed not cancelled." He wagged a warning finger at Spock jovially.

"Understood." Spock replied seriously.

McCoy cleared his throat at the awkward silence. "Now am I going to have to sedate you again to get some rest or will you go into one of your Vulcan voodoo malarkey's."

Spock didn't dignify the latter with a response. "Doctor there are other matters to attend to first." Spock's gaze landed on Jim's steady breathing.

McCoy relinquished his hard stare as his compassionate side let out, of course Spock would not rest until he knew Jim's condition. The Doctor sighed and then headed over to Jim's bed and monitored the readings; their friend looked peaceful as he rested and thankfully the pain no longer scarred his face.

"Well he's finally out of the woods." McCoy began. "He's still in an induced coma while we monitor his condition; so far no bleeds on the brain, brain activity looks normal and the pressure has reduced. We're going to keep him under until at least tomorrow to ensure full regeneration of the tissue up there, and actually having him unconscious all this time has allowed the bone knitter and tissue regenerator to do it's job. Usually with all his squirming and escape attempts we have to do half of the procedures again!"

Spock listened carefully to the Doctor's analysis and was dismayed to learn the information did little to ease his anxiety; he doubted that anything would excluding seeing Jim awake. Hearing Jim had been placed in a medically induced coma confirmed Spock's fears; his Captain's head injuries were severe.

He tried the keep the edge of panic out of his voice. "How long will he be incapacitated Doctor?"

"It's hard to say for sure but we'll know more tomorrow if we can bring him out of it; I'm not going to lie Spock he was pretty bad when we got him here…"

Spock interrupted the Doctor before he could say anything that would make this guilty feeling too much to handle. "List of injuries?" Spock need data to truly know what state Jim was in.

McCoy sighed before reeling off the almighty list. "He had a sizeable skull fracture, pressure on the brain, broken nose, bruising to his larynx, broken collarbone, sprained arms, broken hand, several cracked vertebrae, displaced pelvic bone, 3 broken ribs on the left and 2 on the right, collapsed lung and his left leg had several tendons pulled and was sprained badly."

Spock's face betrayed nothing but inside he felt his anger simmering again; it was much worse than he had imagined. Khan had inflicted so much damage all because he couldn't protect his Captain.

Bones' gaze softened as he recognised guilt fleetingly cross the Vulcan's features. "It wasn't your fault Spock."

"It is my duty…" Spock began wearily; they both knew it was up to him to keep the Captain out of danger and he had failed.

McCoy interrupted the first officer hotly. "You know as well as I do that Jim is his own worst enemy; he rushes into danger without any thought to himself."

Spock could not deny McCoy's statement was truthful; it did not help abate his guilt in the slightest though. Bones' gaze drifted to his friend's sleeping body wistfully and Spock shared the Doctor's sensation; he wished Jim would be less reckless with this own life; he wished Jim would wake up. Too often Spock and McCoy had waited by their Captain's bedside after missions gone wrong; more often than not Jim had rushed head first into danger and gotten himself injured.

Spock had evidently been staring at Jim for too long as McCoy noticed; not only did he notice but a gentle smile pulled at his lips. Either Spock's emotions were slipping too easily through his mask, which was entirely possible in his damaged state, or McCoy was becoming better at reading him.

"He's going to be alright Spock; we've performed surgery to fix the internal bleeding, his spine will have to have more bone knitter sessions but he will recover; well as long as he doesn't wake up and immediately start straining all the new skin and bones."

As much as Spock disliked having his anxiety noticed he was thankful the Doctor had sought to lessen it. The extra information surprisingly helped Spock a little; he looked more closely at Jim and noted he certainly looked better without the bloodied features and his breathing was no longer a haggard wheezing sound. Dr McCoy and his team had worked quickly and the Captain was far better for it.

Now that he knew Jim's fate Spock turned his attention to the ship. "And the Enterprise?"

McCoy's eyes narrowed for a moment as he internally debated whether to allow Spock access to Scotty's reports; the Vulcan had been pretty cooperative so far and Bones relented that the first officer wouldn't rest properly until he knew. Mind made up McCoy sighed and went to retrieve the reports Scotty had sent down every hour and made his way back over to Spock.

"You've got one hour to read this and send your messages Spock and then you're going back under. If you don't go into your healing trance then I'll just sedate you again." McCoy finished giddily a wide grin on his face; the Doctor was truly happy when he was in his element.

"Understood Doctor." Spock realised he didn't have much choice he was beaten; for now at least.

McCoy strode back over to the Captain and twiddled with controls on the bone knitter; he then proceeded back into his office most likely to type up Jim's latest condition. Spock took one last glance at his sleeping Captain before engrossing himself entirely in Scotty's reports.

It did not take long for Spock to read through the reports and reply to the relevant people with fresh orders; he needn't have worried as the ship was running smoothly. He allowed his thoughts to drift to another pressing matter as finally he was alone with his thoughts; he thought about his complete and utter loss of control. All his life Spock had dedicated himself to Vulcan teachings yet in a few short minutes he had disgraced his entire way of life; he felt unimaginable shame at the harsh truth but accepted it just the same. He had let his human side take over and so his worst fear had finally come to pass; it was clear his friendship to Jim had affected his actions there was no more pretending even to himself that the human did not compromise him.

The problem Spock was struggling with presently was how exactly he would go forward from here; it was clear if he wanted to rid himself of all temptations then there was only one course of action: a transfer. As soon as the thought crossed his mind he banished it harshly; that wouldn't solve the long term problem and would countenance to simply running away. Vulcans did not run away from their problems.

The thought of leaving wasn't only not fair to him it was unfair to his Captain; Jim Kirk was the finest man Spock had had the good fortune to meet and he was honoured to be a part of the man's life. The matter would require some deep meditation and Spock would have to dedicate more of his time to control especially as a weakness had clearly been discovered; his friendship with James T. Kirk.

Spock turned his attention back to the reports as messages returned to him following his queries; he shelved the other matter for another time and decided now was not the time for a dissection of the incident with Khan. Spock stamped down on a tremble in his hand at the thought; the hand that had almost murdered another.

As promised McCoy returned precisely one hour later and took the reports off of the first officer; he raised an eyebrow in open challenge when Spock didn't immediately lay himself back down again. The Vulcan held his stance defiantly for a further 3.4 seconds before realisation dawned that it was entirely futile; he could clearly see the hypo-spray held behind McCoy's back. With a sigh Spock lowered himself back onto the bed and prepared himself to enter a healing trance; McCoy flashed a victory smile.

Spock started to prepare his body for the trance cataloguing the state of all of his injuries; before he went under a nagging thought caused him to look over at Jim one more time. Even seeing him here seemingly on the mend Spock couldn't help but still feel anxious for his Captain; what if something happened when Spock was under?

"He'll still be here when you wake up Spock." The Doctor admonished.

Spock sighed wearily. "Yes thank you Doctor." There was no real bite to his tone though.

Spock closed his eyes and started to fall into a deep trance; the last thing he heard before he fell into unconsciousness was Doctor McCoy's chuckling.

* * *

Time flied past quickly aboard the Enterprise they had dropped off the prisoners at starbase 12 for trial and were now back following their usual orders; Spock was confined to sick-bay for a further day after exiting his healing trance much to his own chagrin and McCoy's delight. Spock had to battle to return to the bridge and McCoy eventually relented to clearing the first officer for light duties providing he allowed the Doctor to check up on him every evening and get plenty of rest. One sign of Spock not taking it easy and the Doctor had promised he would 'crash down on him like a tonne of bricks.'

Over the next two days the first officer stopped by med-bay too many times to count pestering Bones for an update to Jim's condition; of course the Vulcan didn't classify it as pestering but the Doctor certainly did. It took all of Bones' patience to not throw the Vulcan out on his ass after the 5th visit in one day but one look at the man's face destroyed McCoy's conviction; Spock was simply worried about his friend who hadn't woken up yet.

McCoy had taken Jim out of the coma on the 3rd day; he had decided to keep the Captain under longer after the pressure on the man's skull was slow to react. Bones explained that this was often the case when there were skull fractures in the mix not to mention how exhausted the Captain's body would be with all the other problems; it had turned out for the best anyway as this way Jim's other injuries were nicely healing without undue strain.

That was yesterday afternoon but Jim still showed no sign of waking; McCoy wasn't worried yet after all Jim's body had been through he had seen many cases just like this. Spock on the other hand was starting to panic and it certainly wasn't helping the first officer's guilt. That's why McCoy was relieved to be disturbed from his office work by Jim's monitors; the Captain was waking up. He hurried out of the office with a large grin plastered to his face; not even the sight of Spock hovering by the Captain's bed deterred him. How had he missed the Vulcan sneaking in?

McCoy checked Jim's readings by hand and anxiously waited for his friend to show any sign of awareness; one look up into Spock's face told the Doctor that he was also anxious to see Jim come round.

"Jim can you hear me?" Bones shook his friend's shoulder gently hoping the act would help raise the Captain out of his stupor; the man was going to be very confused and probably not making much sense when he did eventually surface but waking up for the first time was a good sign; not to mention it looked like Spock needed confirmation that Jim was still actually in there.

Jim felt heavy; all of his limbs were like lead and his body didn't want to respond to his commands. He could hear Bones' voice breaking through the fog in his mind and grow more prominent so he fought to break through the haze and surface; when had waking up been this impossible. He had to let his friend know he could hear him but all he could manage at the moment was unintelligible nonsense.

"Hmmm…"

His throat felt dry and his tongue would also not obey him; he felt a brief panic overtake him as he struggled to remember where he was. It didn't take long for his memories to flash back to the engineering section; he remembered Khan had set the ship to destruct and he remembered pain so much pain. In response he groaned lightly as his body echoed with the misery Khan had inflicted; that's why he felt so damn sore and it certainly explained the dull ache he felt in his bones.

"Jim I need you to open your eyes for me." Jim felt a hand on his shoulder gently shaking him out of his stupor; he followed the voice and fought to surface.

His eyes fluttered open slowly and immediately squeezed shut again against the blinding light.

"Computer: Lights 25%." Jim recognised Spock's voice and inwardly sighed in relief; the events down in the engineering room were rather fuzzy so he was glad to hear his first officer alive.

With the lighting down Jim managed to open his eyes again and it wasn't long before he adjusted to the new surroundings. Spock commanded the computer to slowly return the lighting to normal levels which was much appreciated by Jim; he glanced to Bones and noted the Doctor was busy taking readings.

His eyes latched onto Jim's a second later and the Doctor smiled widely; "Welcome back."

Jim wanted to say something anything but that was much easier said than done; he ended up harshly coughing in response. Bones and Spock helped him sit up slowly and Jim accepted the offered straw stuck in his face; water was exactly what his parched throat was craving.

"Here drink slowly."

Jim closed his eyes in relief as the cool liquid soothed his dry throat; water had never tasted so sweet. When he was done Spock and McCoy helped ease him back down onto his pillow; he bit back a grimace as a shooting pain danced up his spine.

"Thanks." Jim replied croakily.

McCoy hadn't missed the grimace and was busy scanning the area with his tricorder monitoring and recording his findings quietly. Jim took the time to properly gather his wits he glanced to his right and noted Spock stood rigidly with his hands clasped behind his back. Funnily the Vulcan seemed more reserved than usual and was unnaturally quiet even for Spock. It didn't pass by Jim's attention that his first officer was having trouble meeting his gaze for longer than a few seconds; something was wrong.

"The ship?" He asked desperately his mind already mocking his concern; if there was something really wrong then none of them would be having this conversation now.

Jim ignored Bones scoff as his eyes intensely scoured Spock's face for any bad signs.

Spock sensed his Captain's worry and quickly reassured Jim's panic. "All is well Captain."

Jim released a breath he didn't know he was holding; he could relax somewhat knowing the Enterprise was okay it seems he had gotten to the controls in time.

"Report please Mr Spock."

McCoy rolled his eyes and smiled knowingly. "Be brief please Spock; Jim won't be conscious for much longer."

Jim ignored the veiled threat and focussed his attention entirely on Spock's response; he knew he would never rest easy until he had been caught up. Spock reeled off a brief version events and informed the Captain of their current position. Jim had to try and fight his shock when he learned just how long he had been out of action for; he didn't like the feeling of not being control of his own ship.

In the time Spock spent relaying the facts; Jim's vision finally cleared properly and he felt much more like himself. There was a dull ache echoing throughout his body but nothing struck out as particularly painful only sore; from his grogginess he had obviously been pumped with a tonne of different painkillers and sedatives.

When Spock finished his report Jim nodded at the information; he was inwardly relieved Khan and his followers were off the ship. He would rest a lot easier knowing that danger had passed. The Enterprise was in good hands with Spock while he remained a captive in med-bay. McCoy had been busy scanning Jim's system whilst recording the new information; often accompanied by a hum of satisfaction. His blue eyes turned on Jim's as soon as ship's business was out of the way.

"How are you feeling Jim?"

Jim assessed his own body internally and realised immediately how exhausted he felt; his muscles all ached badly and he felt stiff as a board.

"Honestly?" Jim asked fighting off a yawn. "I feel like I've been hit by a train. Several times."

McCoy smiled sadly. "In a way you were."

Silence fell over the trio and Jim took the moment to study his XO more carefully; he remembered the Vulcan fighting with Khan. The Captain scolded himself for not checking Spock's condition earlier; perhaps he wasn't quite himself yet.

There were no physical signs of Spock's encounter; well none that Jim could see from his vantage point anyway. A strange look threatened to take over Spock's features which stopped Jim short; maybe he was imagining things but he could have sworn his first officer had just looked guilty. Surely the Vulcan didn't blame himself for this?

McCoy's gaze flicked between the two friends as the silence extended; Jim needed his rest but these two needed a moment alone more. The Doctor sighed as he accepted that Jim would not properly rest until he knew Spock was really okay; these two were just as bad as each other; stubborn to the last.

"I'll be back in 2 minutes Jim and then you're going back under to _rest_." He emphasised the last word strongly causing a smile to tug at Kirk's lips; the implied threat was perfectly clear Doctor McCoy took no prisoners.

Moments later it was just Spock and Jim in the room; the silence was almost deafening. The Captain fought against the urge to fidget and one glance up at Spock informed him that the Vulcan was struggling to stay put also. Spock's hands remained clasped behind his back as usual; back ramrod straight and eyes facing anywhere but his Captain's. Jim was struggling what how to start when surprisingly Spock beat him to it.

"Captain I must apologise for my actions and I submit myself to you for any disciplinary action you think necessary…"

Jim found his own jaw fall open in shock; what on earth was Spock talking about?

"Spock…" He croaked quietly before being completely drowned out as self-recriminating words continued to tumble out of the Vulcan's mouth at blinding speed.

"I have not only failed my ship, this crew but I have failed in my primary duty which is to protect your life Captain therefore…

Enough was enough.

"Spock stop!" Jim interrupted sharply forcing the first officer to stumble over his words and glance up at his Captain in shock; it was the first time Spock had met his eye.

"Captain?" Spock began in a confused tone.

Jim interrupted the Vulcan again before this got even more out of hand. "There will be no disciplinary action Mr Spock; I was the one who raced into that room without thinking therefore the fault lies with me."

"I should have…"

"Should have what Spock? As valiantly as you try I don't think anyone could protect me from my own recklessness." Jim felt ashamed; how long had Spock been feeling guilty for something Jim had caused.

Jim looked back up at his first officer and held his gaze; he hadn't freed his first officer from the burden of guilt but there was a flicker of amusement at Jim confessing to his own recklessness.

"I raced ahead of you Spock and that was entirely my fault; if I had stopped to think for a second then maybe I would have foreseen Khan's trap. It's a miracle I managed to halt the Enterprise's destruction; I was the one who put the ship in danger."

Spock remained silent as he muddled through Jim's confession.

"Spock you were the one who stopped Khan; you ensured the safety of the crew. Thank god for Vulcan strength."

The offhanded comment had been supposed to be jovial but Jim didn't miss the involuntary flinch and ghosted look that passed over Spock's features for a second; so his XO hadn't resolved his problems yet. He decided to steer the topic away and deal with one set of self-blame at a time; Jim was beginning to believe Spock was more stubborn than he was!

"…and if you hadn't come in when you had…" Jim paused as a tremor ran through his hand; he hadn't felt entirely helpless like that in some time. "I owe you my life Spock."

Spock's cheeks tinged with a faint green blush and the first officer looked exceedingly uncomfortable; he was embarrassed. The sight helped lift Jim's sprits he could see that Spock had taken some of his words on board; hopefully the first officer wouldn't blame himself any longer.

It took a few moments for Spock to get his uncharacteristic reaction under control. "You owe me nothing Jim."

Jim felt a fluttering in his chest as his and Spock's eyes remained locked; countless hidden meanings passed between the command team and Jim allowed himself to grin madly as all was right between them once more. It had worried him seeing Spock so reserved when he had first returned to the land of the living.

He cleared his throat as the room fell into a contented silence and veered the topic of conversation towards his first officer; he couldn't help but remember witnessing the Vulcan's hand gripped around Khan's throat' not to mention how his first officer had just reacted to Jim talking about Vulcan strength. Jim hadn't been aware of very much after Spock entered the room but he would never forget the way Bones screamed at the XO to stop; the Vulcan had clearly lost control and Jim knew how damaging that could be.

"So how are you doing Spock?" His tone reduced to a sombre note which Spock picked up on immediately.

His mask was back in place in a flash correctly assuming where this conversation was heading.

"My wounds are almost healed Captain; I am functioning perfectly well." The response was clipped.

Jim ran a calloused hand over his tired features as he fought off another wave of exhaustion; it wouldn't be long before Bones returned most likely with a sedative in tow.

"I didn't mean physically Spock." Jim met his first's gaze sympathetically; he knew Spock hated talks like this but Jim needed to know the Vulcan was up for command.

Spock's eyes turned to the floor as he suddenly found something very interesting to inspect on his boot; Jim could see the cogs turning in his friend's mind as he formulated a response. When he did finally voice his thoughts Jim was pleasantly surprised with the honesty.

"I am fit for duty Captain and to answer your question I am…" Spock struggled to find a term he was happy with in the end he resorted to something McCoy or Jim would have said. "…working on it."

Jim nodded slowly and acknowledged just how difficult that would have been for Spock to admit; the trust he held in Jim was humbling.

"Alright Spock. If you ever need anyone to talk to…" He let his words trail off as Spock's intense gaze met his once more.

Jim felt rather speechless as he watched Spock's mind sift through his Captain's words; he wasn't sure if he'd gone a step too far. His worries were quickly abated as Spock quickly cleared up his reaction.

"Thank you Jim." Spock replied genuinely moved and evidently grateful for his Captain's offer.

Jim nodded in response not trusting his voice to back up his thoughts; in truth he still felt a little bowled over. The pair were interrupted by the approaching footsteps of McCoy; the sound served to bring them both back into reality and in Jim's case he felt it ten fold. He couldn't help a yawn escape his strained throat which of course didn't escape the Doctor's notice.

"See you've tired him out Spock!" McCoy exclaimed with no real bite; Jim could see straight through his friends subtle attempt to test the waters. Bones _was_ a Doctor after all and had known the pair of them had some things to sort out; he imagined Spock had been more uptight than usual for Bones to allow Jim and his first officer to talk. As Jim thought about it he realised the Doctor had been longer than 2 minutes…

Spock's brow rose at the accusation. "I can assure you Doctor it was Jim who tired himself out."

The first officer's body language remained still and projected perfect Vulcan control but Jim and Bones knew this particular Vulcan all too well; they both deduced Spock had acknowledged McCoy was winding his friend up and had replied in kind. McCoy's body language relaxed and he allowed a smile to tug at his lips; some air had certainly been cleared between the two stubborn idiots.

Jim didn't understand why he had to be the butt of the joke though and he was _not_ tired. Even as the thought crossed his mind Jim found himself valiantly struggling to wipe the sleep from his eyes; his limbs felt heavy and he realised that sleep was threatening to envelope him again. Perhaps he was a little tired.

"Thanks for throwing me under the bus Spock." Jim muttered miserably unable to keep the exhaustion from seeping into his voice.

Spock looked affronted and shocked. "I would never throw you under a bus Captain."

Jim went to wave off his first officer as once again the Vulcan misunderstood the phrase but stopped short as he noticed Spock's lip twitching; the first officer was _teasing_ him. The Captain glared at Spock who managed to keep his mirth under wraps far better than Jim did; it wasn't long before he started chuckling with McCoy following soon after.

Jim eyed the Doctor loading a hypo-spray and started to make a fuss. "I'm not tired Bones, stop mothering me!"

Jim knew he had made a mistake as Bone's face did not budge and his friend looked down exasperated. "Dammit Jim you've just woken up from a coma!"

His head shot round to Bones in shock at that latest piece of information he had simply assumed the Doctor had kept him sedated for him to be out this long; he must have been more seriously injured than he originally believed.

Bones sighed at his friend's reaction; he had assumed that his delayed awakening would have been covered in his conversation with Spock. He laid a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and changed tact to friendly Doctor.

"Sorry Jim I thought ears would have told you." McCoy grinned as Spock acknowledged the barb by narrowing his gaze slightly. "We put you under to give your body the chance to start recovering especially your head; everything's on the mend now so as long as you don't _aggravate_ anything we should have you out of here within the week."

Bones breathed in relief as he spied the tension leave his friend's shoulder's; Jim could really work himself into a state.

With a cheeky grin Jim decided to try his luck. "A week?"

McCoy glared at his friend but couldn't keep the infectious smile off his face also. "Yes Jim a week."

The Captain responded with an overdramatic sigh and his face stunk of mock despair; ever the drama queen.

"What am I going to do with you?" McCoy chuckled as he readjusted Jim's covers.

"Let me go?" Jim beamed happily and allowed his trade-mark grin to spread across his face; he almost managed to forestall his eyelids dropping but not entirely.

McCoy barked a laugh at the statement before bringing the hypo-spray into view. "Oh no my friend with the amount your body went through you can expect an extended stay."

"It was worth a try…" He muttered gloomily and resigned himself to his fate.

He felt his eye's grow heavier with each growing second and distantly felt McCoy inject the hypo-spray into his arm; his last sight was of Spock glancing fondly down upon him.

* * *

The next time Jim awoke he found Spock waiting for him; the first officer stopped by every day after his shift ended to update his Captain on the ship's progress. Of course the reports were just a subterfuge as Spock always stayed long after they had finished discussing ships business. Sometimes he would bring his chess kit and the pair would spend hours thrashing one another, and other times they would simply talk. Jim always asked for an update on the crew including Spock's recovery; his injuries were healing quite nicely and he hoped to be cleared by McCoy for full duty soon. Soon enough the distractions Spock brought no longer held Jim's attention; it didn't take long for Jim to become completely restless and so the plans for escape began.

On one particular evening Spock had noted his Captain's behaviour had grown more fidgety than usual, and the younger man was acting very peculiarly whenever McCoy came near. In their chess match Jim had been off focus and appeared to be on the lookout for the good Doctor; Spock refrained from calling his Captain out on the strange behaviour. Spock had just finished packing up the chess set when Jim's slightly crazed eyes met his and he spoke in an urgent whisper; the first officer was genuinely concerned until the words tumbled from Jim's mouth at lightening speed.

"Spock you've got to get me out of here!" The Captain hissed as he continually glanced around for any sign of McCoy returning.

Spock had to fight a smile emerging as his Captain's behaviour now made perfect sense; Jim had seemingly reached his limit in med-bay. In all honesty Spock had expected this response sooner; Jim had already been awake for 3 days.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that Captain." Spock replied regrettably; he felt Jim's pain over being cooped up but Jim needed to be here.

"But Spock I can't take it anymore!" Jim's eyes were wild and he shook his arms to emphasise his point.

Spock was interrupted before he could even start his reply by the swish of a door. Jim's eyes grew wide as McCoy strode into the room; Spock found the entire ordeal rather comical. The first officer spun to meet the good Doctor as he heard his footsteps halt; surprisingly Bones was glaring at _both_ of them.

"Whatever conspiracies or escape attempts you two have concocted I want you to forget it." His demanding tone was directed at Jim in particular who sunk deeper beneath his covers at being caught out; Spock resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how childish these two fully grown adults were being.

McCoy's gaze suddenly flicked to him, "and you _pointy ears_ visiting hours are over; let the Captain rest."

Spock flicked off the annoyance at the barb before turning back to Jim; he could see his Captain was pleading for him to stay, to help. The Vulcan had only stalled replying for 2.4 seconds but evidently that was too long for the good Doctor.

"Let me make this simple for you Mr Spock if you don't leave immediately I'll revoke your light duty status; haul you back in here and make you carry out the rest of your treatment _sedated_." Spock gulped as the threat reached his ears; he could think of no worse fate.

With one sorrowful glance back at Jim; Spock made up his mind. From the hurtful expression crossing his Captain's face he guessed Jim had figured it out also.

"I'm sorry Captain…" Spock meant it but this was for Jim's own good.

Jim flopped back into his pillows with an exasperated huff. "Fine fine… Leave me alone to my fate."

Spock was genuinely concerned for a moment over Jim's seemingly miserable attitude but he caught the slight smirk pull at his Captain's lips and so his worries were quelled.

The pair looked towards the door as it opened with a mechanical swish; Nurse Chapel entered and made a beeline for Doctor McCoy. Spock could make out the duo's conversation with his advanced hearing; the Doctor was needed urgently with another patient. McCoy threw the pair one of his famous glares before turning on his heel and following Christine out; Spock and Jim both caught the look McCoy threw their way before he scurried off and deciphered it's underlying meaning immediately.

 _We're not finished here…_

Jim chuckled softly at his best friends behaviour his bedside manner was certainly an acquired taste. When Spock glanced back down at his Captain; Jim's smile widened into a full blown grin. To an outsider his first officer's expression was stoic but to Jim it was something different entirely; he could see the smile threatening to pull at the Vulcan's lips and the amused glint in his eye.

"I should take my leave Captain before Doctor McCoy makes good on his threat." Spock's voice was light and jovial.

As his first officer turned to leave Jim reached out and grasped his arm. "Spock wait a minute." he felt the Vulcan stiffen for a moment before the tension leaved his body at the unexpected touch.

Spock turned back to face his CO with a questioning gaze one brow slanted so high it became hidden beneath his fringe.

Jim didn't know how to begin but he had to get this subject off of his mind before it drove him crazy he already anticipated Spock to clam up, but he couldn't leave it any longer. Jim decided the best action was to just come right out and say it.

"You almost killed him." The statement was said as though Jim was reciting a fact but there was no reproach in his tone.

Jim noticed regrettably the change in his first officer's posture as the man became stiffer and his features once again resembled a blank mask; not willing to allow any emotions to slip by. It was too bad for the Vulcan that Jim could read his first officer like a book.

"That is correct." Spock replied stiffly.

The Captain had 1001 questions and queries about the entire affair down in engineering but now was not the time or place to grill Spock. Jim had heard from bones that Spock had been shaken after the incident and during said incident had been angrier than anyone had ever seen him. It seemed Spock had always been holding back on Jim when they sparred together; Jim knew that if he were to ever face Spock's full fury he wouldn't last two seconds.

Presently Jim only wished to know one thing of his first officer; not to mention the information might cause a revelation for the Vulcan too whom often worried too much about his damn emotions.

"What made you do it?" Jim asked softly.

To the Captain's surprise Spock didn't take long to formulate a response evidently he had already given the matter some thought.

"You Captain."

Jim already knew the answer to the next question before he asked it but perhaps Spock needed to hear it aloud, as far as Jim was concerned his first officer had made a decision and acted upon it based purely on emotion and he worried that this would make Spock become reserved around humans once again.

"What made you stop?"

Spock's eyes glistened with amusement and he sighed before answering indicating he knew exactly what his Captain was up to.

"You Captain."

Jim nodded thoughtfully still keeping up the pretence that this knowledge was new to him. A crafty response came to mind that was just too good to pass up; even if it was classified as blatant teasing.

"Forgive me if I'm overlooking something Spock but that seems highly illogical." Jim managed to keep a straight face until he uttered his first officer's favoured phrase; a grin pulled at his lips as Spock acknowledged the teasing for what it was.

The XO paused for a minute as if coming to a conclusion to an internal battle himself. "Actually Jim, if you think about it… It is the most logical statement in the world."

Jim was stunned by the sincerity of Spock's gaze there were so many hidden meanings behind those words; so much left unsaid. The Captain had become an expert at reading between the lines when it came to Spock; the first officer had just said something not only with his words but also with his eyes that had struck a chord with Jim.

 _'Because you are my friend.'_

* * *

 **A/N - And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed this little piece :)**

 **Until next time...**


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